Bordeaux was sold out and hot, and not just in the musical sense, which was also true. The band is playing superbly. Doug Lunn, Freddie Kron and Eric Gardner are such beautiful musicians that they make it a joy and a pleasure to hit the stage each night. The songs are really coming alive and the improvisations are always different and challenging. As my Finnish friend Markus Nordenstreng says, "Good stuff." We've just about got the technical aspects of the gig worked out and the sound has been consistently good.
But "HOT" best describes this night's enterprise. We calculated that the temperature at floor level in the Cat Club this night was 95+ degrees. Up on stage, under the lights, it must have been at least 115. I hadn't played in this kind of heat since back when dogs could talk. It used to get this hot on a summer night in Detroit at the Grande Ballroom. The difference being, I was twenty then. At this point in my working life, I knew pacing was the key. I kept focused on what I was playing, listening to the fellows and concentrating on I was singing, and that's all. No dancing, no jumping around on this one. We played a nice long set of one hour and forty minutes. (With a short break to change a string). Eric Gardner was working so hard on the drums in the heat that he consumed 6 litres of water!
The crowd was really open to what we were playing and that makes it fun. Good company with the other bands on the show, who were The Hard Feelings from Austin, Texas and The Cool Jerks from Memphis, Tennessee. Both bands were genial people and there was good camaraderie. The Hard Feelings also supported us the next night in Paris. Schooley, the Hard Feelings leader, must be recognized as the prince of a man he is. In the heat of the night at Bordeaux he offered the solution to the problem of wearing glasses on the gig - the nerd strap. This became the subject of much discussion in the dressing room. Just how cool is it (or not) to wear a nerd strap to hold one's glasses in place? The conclusion was: Bo Diddley wears one, so it's acceptable. Long-time glasses wearers have been through things like this but I'm still new to wearing them. I've only been wearing glasses for just over a year now and I'm just learning the ropes.
(An aside: Our promoter for the Bordeaux show, Francis, told me when he joined the French army in 1969 they cut his hair off to the sounds of the MC5's "Kick Out the Jams." Strange where your music can show up in peoples' lives.)
Paris, as always, was outstanding. I feel at home in Paris. I am French/Greek, and in France I see people who look like me. The structure of their faces seems similar to me. Maybe it's my imagination, but we all come from somewhere and this is where half of my genetic roots are. When I came here on tour in 1995, there was a terrorist bombing in the subway that day and I wrote "Bomb Day in Paris." I have continued to perform the piece and, sadly, it is a song that continues to be relevant. It was only right to perform the song here, at the place of its inception. Even with the language difference, I believe the message of the song came through and the audience was wildly enthusiastic with the music. Big fun.
Freddie Kron played so hard he broke a key on his keyboard. Hopefully we can get it repaired in Ireland or England. Doug Lunn and I went out to dinner after the show with some old and new friends. Good talk over noodles and shrimp. Politics, art, history, war, music and a lot of general good humor. An Adult World indeed.
It's fascinating that the culture of Europe is so different from the US. In Europe it's so natural for people to be out late at night on the streets going to clubs and cafes, coming and going about their business without any fear of each other. People of all colors and nationalities, all living together side by side. It's so civilized. Something we know very little about in America. It's nothing unusual to see a young woman walking home at 3AM by herself in any country in Europe, without the fear that we get force fed from the TV news in the States. It shows what an immature and brutal nation America really is.
The European view of current events also has a broader perspective than that of the states. They've seen it all before and have a better grip on world affairs than most folks in our land. But then, most folks in America don't really have a clue what's going on today or their own national history or what the Bush/Cheney Junta is really up to. But we'll find out in the months and years to come. I don't think it will be nice. Not nice at all.
We're on our way to Ireland now for a show in Dublin and then 4 shows in England finishing up in London, another of my homes-away-from-home. We then return to France for 3 shows and then on to the Scandinavian countries.
More news as it happens.
God bless, w.
But "HOT" best describes this night's enterprise. We calculated that the temperature at floor level in the Cat Club this night was 95+ degrees. Up on stage, under the lights, it must have been at least 115. I hadn't played in this kind of heat since back when dogs could talk. It used to get this hot on a summer night in Detroit at the Grande Ballroom. The difference being, I was twenty then. At this point in my working life, I knew pacing was the key. I kept focused on what I was playing, listening to the fellows and concentrating on I was singing, and that's all. No dancing, no jumping around on this one. We played a nice long set of one hour and forty minutes. (With a short break to change a string). Eric Gardner was working so hard on the drums in the heat that he consumed 6 litres of water!
The crowd was really open to what we were playing and that makes it fun. Good company with the other bands on the show, who were The Hard Feelings from Austin, Texas and The Cool Jerks from Memphis, Tennessee. Both bands were genial people and there was good camaraderie. The Hard Feelings also supported us the next night in Paris. Schooley, the Hard Feelings leader, must be recognized as the prince of a man he is. In the heat of the night at Bordeaux he offered the solution to the problem of wearing glasses on the gig - the nerd strap. This became the subject of much discussion in the dressing room. Just how cool is it (or not) to wear a nerd strap to hold one's glasses in place? The conclusion was: Bo Diddley wears one, so it's acceptable. Long-time glasses wearers have been through things like this but I'm still new to wearing them. I've only been wearing glasses for just over a year now and I'm just learning the ropes.
(An aside: Our promoter for the Bordeaux show, Francis, told me when he joined the French army in 1969 they cut his hair off to the sounds of the MC5's "Kick Out the Jams." Strange where your music can show up in peoples' lives.)
Paris, as always, was outstanding. I feel at home in Paris. I am French/Greek, and in France I see people who look like me. The structure of their faces seems similar to me. Maybe it's my imagination, but we all come from somewhere and this is where half of my genetic roots are. When I came here on tour in 1995, there was a terrorist bombing in the subway that day and I wrote "Bomb Day in Paris." I have continued to perform the piece and, sadly, it is a song that continues to be relevant. It was only right to perform the song here, at the place of its inception. Even with the language difference, I believe the message of the song came through and the audience was wildly enthusiastic with the music. Big fun.
Freddie Kron played so hard he broke a key on his keyboard. Hopefully we can get it repaired in Ireland or England. Doug Lunn and I went out to dinner after the show with some old and new friends. Good talk over noodles and shrimp. Politics, art, history, war, music and a lot of general good humor. An Adult World indeed.
It's fascinating that the culture of Europe is so different from the US. In Europe it's so natural for people to be out late at night on the streets going to clubs and cafes, coming and going about their business without any fear of each other. People of all colors and nationalities, all living together side by side. It's so civilized. Something we know very little about in America. It's nothing unusual to see a young woman walking home at 3AM by herself in any country in Europe, without the fear that we get force fed from the TV news in the States. It shows what an immature and brutal nation America really is.
The European view of current events also has a broader perspective than that of the states. They've seen it all before and have a better grip on world affairs than most folks in our land. But then, most folks in America don't really have a clue what's going on today or their own national history or what the Bush/Cheney Junta is really up to. But we'll find out in the months and years to come. I don't think it will be nice. Not nice at all.
We're on our way to Ireland now for a show in Dublin and then 4 shows in England finishing up in London, another of my homes-away-from-home. We then return to France for 3 shows and then on to the Scandinavian countries.
More news as it happens.
God bless, w.
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